1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the packaging and application of adhesive-sided articles such as adhesive bandages, medical tapes, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Individually packaged adhesive-sided articles have been in use for many decades. Of these, perhaps the best known example is the adhesive bandage such as the one marketed by Johnson & Johnson under the famous BAND-AID.RTM. trademark. The packaging of this product and many others like it consists of an outer envelope or sleeve that must be opened to extract the product, as well as one or more pieces of release material that must be removed from the product itself to expose the adhesive. However, a significant difficulty arises in using such products in situations where the user does not have both hands free to unwrap and apply the bandage. For example, a worker who suffers a serious cut on one finger or hand would find it virtually impossible to apply a standard adhesive bandage quickly because he would have to use both hands to unwrap the bandage but could not possibly use both to apply it. Similarly, a person who must inject himself (or someone else) with medication or draw a blood sample would doubtless prefer to hold a gauze pad against the puncture with one hand while applying a bandage or adhesive tape over the gauze. The difficulty of application is aggravated where the bandages are stored in a cardboard or metal box or other closed receptacle, for an injured user might contaminate multiple wrapped bandages while attempting to extract one from the receptacle. In view of the well-documented frequency of hand and finger injuries in both the home and workplace, there is clearly a need for adhesive bandages that the user can obtain, unwrap and apply quickly while using only one hand.
Matters are further complicated for health care professionals, who are subject to OSHA requirements that mandate the use of latex gloves during all activities which involve a risk of exposure to blood. Traditional adhesive bandages adhere tenaciously to latex, making it difficult to apply them using two gloved hands, much less with only one.
At the same time, however, it is essential for achieving a complete solution to the problem that the bandage also be maintained in a sterile condition until just before application. Furthermore, the benefit of such precautions is wasted if the user is forced for some reason to touch the sterile dressing while applying the bandage. Typically this occurs while the user is shifting his grip on the bandage, just after unwrapping it but before applying it.
Many solutions have been put forth to address the problems described above. Most solutions have relied on the use of some complex (and expensive) dispensing apparatus that presents a single sterile bandage from the end of a fanfold stack or coiled roll. Some of these also achieve the goal of single-handed application, but these solutions are often especially expensive and cumbersome. Furthermore, most of the solutions that accomplish one-handed application do so by methods that leave a substantial portion of the article secured to its wrapper during application, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,234, Schaar. This attachment makes it difficult to apply the article to cylindrical surfaces (e.g., bandaging a finger) without wrapping the article's adhesive layer back over part of the wrapper.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,689, Frank, and Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2,126,815, Kanda, et al., each disclose a package for an adhesive-sided bandage including a bottom sheet and a top sheet, a release paper opposing the adhesive surface of the bandage and adhesive layers of different strengths on the top and bottom sheets and the bandage itself. The weakest adhesive allows the bottom sheet to be removed with the release paper to expose the adhesive side of the bandage while the bandage is adhered to the top sheet. The strongest adhesive is on the bandage so that it can be applied to the patient's skin for fast holding. An adhesive of intermediate strength holds the top sheet to the top of the entire bandage and gives way to allow removal of the top sheet therefrom after the bandage is secured to the patient's skin.
Neither the Frank package nor the Kanda, et al. package is believed to have been commercialized. Although the package of Frank, and possibly that of Kanda, et al., allows a one-handed application of the bandage to the patient and removal of the top sheet of the package, as shown in FIG. 3 of the Frank patent, there are problems in consistently obtaining the relative adhesive strengths and with having an adhesive layer on the top sheet of the package at the time of application to the patient. Having the relative adhesive strengths in the various relationships as described above is important to permit the package to work properly in the application of the bandage. In addition, it is necessary to have the top sheet adhere to the bottom sheet when the package is stored as well as sterilized, necessitating that the adhesive area is larger than the area of the bandage. In their respective applications, Frank and Kanda, et al. use only one adhesive to not only bond the top sheet to the bandage, but also to bond the top sheet to the bottom sheet to seal the package. In this application, the top and bottom sheets need to peel apart easily while also to stick together firmly enough to seal the package for sterilization purposes. With only one adhesive bonding the top sheet to the top surface of the bandage, this would not be possible. Furthermore, when the bandage and top sheet are pressed onto the skin, the adhesive on the top sheet adheres to the skin and hairs and blemishes thereon. When the top sheet of the package is subsequently removed, the hairs are pulled and the skin imperfections are irritated.
Therefore, it is a feature of the invention to provide a package comprising separable top and bottom layers adhered to each other for enclosing an adhesive bandage or the like, that allows one-handed application of the bandage with its separated top layer being used as the applicator. The applicator is void of any adhesive material that would come in contact with the skin, so when the bandage is applied, the only adhesive that comes in contact with the skin is the adhesive on the bandage itself.
It is another feature of the invention to provide a package comprising separable top and bottom layers adhered to each other for enclosing an adhesive bandage or the like, that allows the bottom layer to be removed from the top layer and allows the top layer to pop up from the bandage when the bandage is applied to the skin for ease of removal of the top layer.